The OKC Thunder are not going on holiday yet! In a mistaken 107:99 victory (BOXSCORE) in game 5 against Utah Jazz, OKC is already on the ropes before Russell Westbrook turns up and puts on a performance for eternity.
In view of the fact that OKC had to win to keep his season alive and then had a home game, a reaction from the team was expected. However, these expectations were initially completely disappointed: OKC played a good first quarter before collapsing completely in the second. The Thunder brought a full 12 points on the board and ran after a 15-point deficit during the break.
The team didn’t seem to know what happened to him, and the otherwise euphoric crowd looked very similar – the home team was booed during the first half. Things did not improve in the third quarter at first. Utah was already leading with 25 points and the will of the Thunder seemed to be broken when of all people Jae Crowder couldn’t miss from outside. The OKC season was almost over. But Russell Westbrook did a final rebellion.
MVP had not played well until then, but now he scored two consecutive trios – and that was the initial spark his team needed. Paul George managed an And-1, Westbrook took more free throws and OKC Rudy Gobert hung up his fouls 4 and 5, and the jazz got cold again from downtown at a bad time. It was still 10 points, then only 8, then George put in the next layup to 68:74. Jazz coach Quin Snyder took his third time-out of the quarter to finally stop the bleeding.
It didn’t help. Westbrook answered a Donovan Mitchell dunk with his next threesome, then Russ found George in transition for an open dunk – only 3 points left. With the next attack Westbrook was netting from outside to equalize. Within a quarter, the Thunder had turned a 25-point gap into a 78:78 lead over the last quarter. Westbrook alone scored 20 points in the third heat! The Jazz had no answer to the steam engine that was coming at them. So the quarter break couldn’t come soon enough.
After that Utah started again to some extent – but the Thunder were now finally completely in rhythm. While Gobert was sitting on the bench, Westbrook and George came to the basket with complete ease, especially as they also struck Derrick Favors his fifth foul. When Gobert returned after all, he of course could not defend as physically as usual, as he would have risked his expulsion. The intimidation factor that the Frenchman would otherwise undoubtedly exert has been lost.
Mitchell tried to get the jazz back on track a few more times in the final phase with a few big shots. But Utah just couldn’t get Westbrook and George to stop. “Not tonight!” Westbrook yelled, and he was right: OKC finally won and completed the biggest playoff comeback in their franchise history. A block from George against Mitchell eliminated the last doubts about 40 seconds before the end.
“Playoff P” finished the game with 34 points, but the game ball went to Westbrook, who finished the game with 45 points (17/39 FG), 15 rebounds and 7 assists. It was a two-man show – no other Thunder player scored more than 7 points!
In the Jazz category, Crowder was topscorer with 27 points, Mitchell scored 23 and four other players ended up in Double Figures. Game 6 of the series will take place on Friday.